Excavating-machine.



J. H. W. LIBBE.

EXGAVATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 5, 1910.

4 SHEETSSHEET 1.

WITNESSES; INVENTOR..

J. H. W. LIBBE.

EXGAVATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION IILED JULY 5, 1910.

Patented June 13, 1911.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES:

J. H. W. LIBBE. EXGAVATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 5} 1910.

Patented June 13, 1911.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

[AH/EN TUE WITNESSES JOHN H. W. LIBBE, 0F TOLEDO, OHIO.

EXGAVATING-MACHINE.

Specification-of Letters Patent.

Patented June 13, 1911.

Application filed July 5, 1910..- Serial No; 570,241;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. W. LIBBE,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident.

of Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented acertain new and useful Excavating-Machine; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification.

My invention relates to excavating machines, and'particularly tomachines of the type adapted for the digging of sewer trenches, but maybe used for other open ditch work or for any work for which it may beadapted or appropriate.

The object of my invention is the provision of a machine of thischaracter, which is capable of digging trenches for sewers, open ditchesor other purposes in a rapid, economical and eflicient manner, and whichhas the ope ative parts thereof disposed in advance of the end of thetrench instead of over the trench as is customarily the case.

A further object of my invention is the provision in a machine of thisclass of a simple and improved form of shovel and of means for operatingin conjunction with such shovel to cause it to effectually discharge its'contents when at a predetermined point in its movement.

The invention is fully described in the following specification, andwhile in its broader aspect it is capable of embodiment in numerousforms, a preferred embodiment thereof is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in Which,

Figure 1; is a side elevation of a machine embodying my invention withportions broken away and with the shovel or scoop indumping position.Fig. 2 is a plan of the machine with portions broken away and partsdiagrammaticallyshown. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the excavatingportion of the machine in association with a ditch, the shovel being indumping position. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the drag or soilloosening device with the platform removed therefrom. Fig. 5 is a viewin perspective of the movable anchor member of the excavating mechanismand Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are enlarged plan back and end views of theexcavating shovel.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the platform or supporting frameof the machine by which the operative parts are carried and which 'ismounted on a set of wheels 2 to adapt it to be longitudinally moved asthe digging progresses, such wheels being shown as running on temporarytracks 3.

4 designates the operating motor, which is mounted on the platform 1,and, in the present instance, shown as comprising a steam engine. Thecrank-shaft 5 of this engine carries a gear 6 which meshes with a gear-7 on a shaft 8, which is journaled transversely of the platform 1 insuitable bearings 9 rising therefrom. A small gear 10 on one end of theshaft 8 meshes with a larger gear 11 on the drum-shaft 12, which shaft12 has a pair of cable-drums 13, 13 fixed thereto, one adjacent eachend, and the two drums 14 and 15 loosely mounted thereon'intermediatethe drums 13, 13 and in spaced relation. A shiftable clutch-member ismounted on the shaft 12 intermediate the drums 14 and 15 and is movableby the movement of a shift-lever 17 to engage a clutch surface ontheadjacent hub end of either of such drums. The shift-lever 17 isfulcrumed at one end to a fixed frame part 18 and has its other endconnected by a rod 19 to a control lever 20, which is fulcrumed adjacentone side of the platform 1 to a bracket 21 projecting from the outer.side of one of a pair of beams or frame parts 9, which form supportsfor the bearings of the several shafts.

, 22.designates the control lever of the engine, which may be moved toreverse the direction of running of the engine; 23 the throttle-lever ofthe engine, and 24 the lever which controls the forward movement of themachine. The lever 24: is connected by a rod 25 to a movable clutch part26 on a shaft 27, journaled in the lower portion of the frame, 1, andsuch clutch part is a drum 28 on such shaft to cause the shaft and drumto rotate together, the shaft being driven by a chain 29 connectingsprocketwheels 30, 30 on said shaft and the shaft 8. A cable 28 Windsupon such drum and has one end connected to a stake or other suitableanchor means (not shown) in advance of the machine, whereby a turning ofthe drum to wind the cable thereon draws the machine toward the anchormeans.

Each of the drums 13 has a cable 31 wound a plurality of timestherearound to prevent a relative slipping of the cable thereon when thedrum is rotated. Each of these cables attaches at one end to theassociated end of an excavating shovel or scoop 32 at the forward sidethereof, as indicated at 33, Figs. 1 and 3, and has its other end passedover a sheave 34 carried at the associated end of a shaft 35, which isjournaled above the plane of the drums in the uprights 36, 36 risingfrom the rear ends of the beams 9, 9. The cables 31, 31 after passingover their respective sheaves 34 continue down into the ditch orexcavation 37, pass around an anchor-sheave 38 and thence extendforwardly and attach to the associated end of the shovel 32 at the rearthereof, as indicated at 39, Figs. 1 and 3, thus combining with theshovel to form an endless draft-cable.

. In order that the anchor means to which the anchor-sheaves 38 attachmay be movable to adapt it to move forward with the machine, and at thesame time be sufficiently stable as to cotiperate with the drum '13 tohold the cables taut and to stand firm during the retracting movement ofthe shovel into the trench after dumping its load, I provide for suchpurpose a boat 40, which travels on the bottom of the trench and isloaded with dirt, stones or other suitable weight substance to asuflioient extent to anc or it against the stresses which the cables 31exert thereon during a retracting movement of the shovel.

The shovel, scoop or scraper 32, while it may be of any suitableconstruction, is shown in the present instance, as comprising the twoopposing ends 41, 41, which are connected by a hood 43 at the upper rearportion of the shovel and have their lower forward edges each providedwith a cuttingnose 44. The front edges of the ends 41 are shown as beingconnected and relatively braced by a bar 41 to which the draft cables 31are attached. The back or digging blade 45 of the shovel is pivotedadjacent the lower rear edges of the ends 41, as at 46, and has itslower portion curved forwardly from such pivot and provided with teethto adapt it to form the main cutting nose of the shovel. The upper edgeof the back 45 is adapted to rest against the lower rear edge of thehood 43 whereby to limit its rearward swinging movements, and when insuch position is locked against forward movement by the latch-bars 47.One of these latchbars is pivoted to each end 41 adjacent its upperedge, as at 48, and has its rear end working through a registeringopening or cut-away portion 49 of the hood 43 and notched, as at 50, toadapt it to shoulder against the upper edge of the back 45 when innormal digging position and thus lock the back against pivotal movementswithin the shovel. When the shovel has been drawn up to dump-position,as hereinafter more fully described, the noses or forward ends of thebars 47 coact with the under sides of registering trip-members 51, whichproject rearwardly on an incline from the associated uprights 36, asbest shown in Fig. 1. Rollers 52 are mounted on the top of the hood 43adjacent each end thereof for the rearwardly extending portions of thedraft-cables 31 to work over. A bolt 42 is carried by each end 41 of theshovel and serves to limit the inward movements of the upper end of theback 45.

Attached to the cables 31, 31 adjacent the rear of the shovel is a dirtloosening or mulching member, which is shown as comprising a cross-piece53 of channel-bar hav ing' mulching teeth 54 projecting downwardly fromthe front and rear sides thereof. This member follows the shovel 32 inits forward digging movements and cuts into and loosens the earth overwhich it passes to facilitate the digging action of the shovel on itsnext forward movement. A platform 55 is shown as being provided on themulching member on which a person may stand or other weighty object beplaced to weight down such member. Adjustable shoes 53 are carried bythe cross-piece 53 and gage the depth of extension of the teeth 54 intothe soil.

Disposed immediately to the rear of the platform 1 of the machine arethe two transversely disposed tracks 56, 56 of channeliron in thepresent instance, on which the wheels 57 of a dumping-car 58 travel,such tracks being suitably braced apart by bars 59 and attached torearwardly extended portions of the side beams 1 of the platform. As themechanism controlling the movements of the dumping car 58 form no partof my present invention but is claimed in a copending divisionalapplication Serial No.

589,176, such mechanism will not be deframe-work 89, which rises fromthe rear track 56 to the rear of the truck-frame and shovel to dumpingposition and has an upwardly turned flange 90 at its upper end,

which coacts with the nose of the shovel.

back 45 at approximately the time of tripping engagement of thelatch-bars 47 with the members 51, as previously described, whereby theupper portion of such back is thrown forward within the shovel to assistin discharging the shovel load into the car 58.

The operation of my machine is as follows When the shovel 32 upon aretracting movement thereof has reached the bottom of the trench beingdug, the operator moves the reverse-lever 22 to reverse the action ofthe engine, thus causing the shaft 12 and drums 13, 13 thereon to rotatein a direction to move the draft-cables '31, 31 to draw the shovel upthe inclined wall of the trench and to receive a load and to convey itup the platform 88 to dumping position over the car 58. When the shovelhas reached a predetermined point over the car- 58 the forward ends ofthe latch-bars 47 of the shovel coact with and are moved by thetrip-members 51 to release the tail-pieces of such bars from lookingengagement with the upper edge of the shovel-back or blade 45. As theshovel continues its forward movement the nose of the back 45 coactswith the stationary flange 90, thus causing the back to swin on itspivot 46 until its upper portion strikes the bolts 42, as shown in Fig.4, and effecting a complete dumping of the shovel contents. As soon asthe shovel has dumped its load the operator reverses the lever 22 toreturn the shovel to the trench bottom. The dragging of the nose of theshovel-back 45 on-the platform 88 or trench bottom when returning todigging position will automatically throwthe back to normal lockedposition. It is evident that the trailing of the mulching member behindthe shovel in its digging movement will loosen the surface of the soilto render the next digging movement of the shovel easier than wouldotherwise .be the case. To mdve the machine ahead it is only necessaryto throw the lever 24 to effect an engagement of the clutch 26 with thedrum 28 on the shaft 27, thuswinding the machine-pulling cable' 28 onsuch drum and advancing the machine. As the machine moves forward theanchor member 40 for the shovel cables 31, 31 moves forward therewith inthe bottom of the trench.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is,

1. In a machine of the class described, the

combination of an endless cable,- a digging element attachedto suchcable, opposing rotatable members ,around which the cable passes, one ofsaid members being operative to impart digging and retractmg movementsto said element longitudinally of the trench being dug, and weightedslidable means to which the other of said members is attached forfri'ctionally anchoring the same within the trench, said means beingmovable longitudinally oflthe trench upon an advancing movement of themachine, the

cable serving as draft means for said anchor means during such movementof the machine.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a shovelhavin its back pivotally movable relative to t e remaining portionthereof and, forming a digging blade, latch-members normally locking theback against pivotal movements, means for moving the shovel, and meanswith which said members coact at a predetermined point in a movement ofthe shovel to effect their release from the back.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a shovelhaving ends and a rear digging portion pivotally movable relative tosuch ends, locking means for acting on such portion to hold it indigging position, mechanism for moving the shovel, and means with whichthe locking means coacts at a predetermined point in a movementof theshovel to effect a release of such locking means from the di gingportion.

'4'. In a machine of the 'c ass described, the I combination of-a shovelhaving ends and a rear digging blade pivotally movable relative to theends, a latch-bar normally locking such blade in operative position,means for moving the shovel, means for coacting with the latch-bar torelease it from locking engagement with the blade at a prede terminedpoint in a movement of the shovel, and means for acting on the bladewhen released to move it relative to the sides to discharge a load.

-5.' In a machine of the class described, a shovel having ends and arear side. pivoted to the ends adjacent to its lower edge, said rearsideforming a digging blade, and at least one latch member carried bythe shovel and normally locking the upper portion of the rear sideagainst inward dumping movements.

6. Ina machine of the class described, the combination of a shovelha-ving its back pivotally movable relative to the remaining portionthereof and formin a digging blade, at least one latch mem er normallylocking the back'against ivotal movements, means formoving the s ovel, away over which the shovel is moved and having means for coasting withthe digging edge of the shovel back to impart inward pivotal movementsto the upper portion of the back, and means with which said latch membercoacts at approximately the time of engagement of the back with the waymeans to efiect a release of such member from the back.

JOHN H. W. LIBBE. Witnesses:

W- OWEN, M. G. GASKELL.

